Jumping Pillow Fun

With a beach a 100m from our cabin door, a pool, a playground, rainforests and waterfalls to explore, the Muddy kids are of course always requesting the jumping pillow! Luckily at the moment the holiday park is quiet, so they have had a good run at it whenever their heart desires.

 

Each time they request the jumping pillow though my calves say 'Thank You' while my pelvic floors say 'squeeze tight', I really must remember to keep up with those exercises!

 

6/52

 

My Muddy Organiser - Laughter, Always Laughter

Muddy Pixie - A rare smile rather than a silly face, enjoying a quiet moment on her own.

Muddy Puzzler - Caught in motion, excitement of the first morning of our holiday

Muddy Baby Boy - Busy, but stopped to smile at me on his way past......

Surprisingly I managed to get all four Muddy Kids in this week. Aiming for a Portrait a Week for 52 Weeks alongside the talented Jodi at Che and Fidel.

A Grateful Week

Tomorrow is a great day - tomorrow we go away on holiday. Yes it will probably take us over 8-9 hours to make it to the coast, but we will meet up with friends and celebrate a very special friend's wedding. We then get a week of beach action before heading to the big smoke for an engagement party for one of my cousins.

Each and every member of the family is busting with excitement and it's been a busy week trying to get things sorted before we go. I am one of those people who cannot go away unless my house is spotless, there's no washing hanging around in baskets and my lawn must be mowed, so it's keeping me on my toes.

I am grateful though for my lovely mother-in-law who looked after my kids so I could finish the packing and the cleaning unhindered.

I am grateful for my sister-in-law for keeping me supplied with vomit bags, because the reality is we will not make it to the coast without at least one vomiting child, and I would rather be prepared than spend my holiday trying to get the smell out of the car.

I am grateful for my Muddy Organiser's care and kindness, looking after her baby brother when I need her to just take his hand to help him walk somewhere or keep him busy while I complete a task, she continues to amaze me with her thoughtfulness.

I am also grateful for my hairdresser, for fitting the kids and I in for hair cuts before we go away, for knowing my kids so well that they are comfortable enough to let her wash their hair and cut it without clinging to me like they used to.

It's these little things that make me smile this week and that I want to link up at Village Voices for 52 Weeks of Grateful, graciously hosted by Maxabella Loves. It's definitely worth a look.

Marshmallows

With the kids being on their 'Pear Diet' I have been trying new things, pushing my boundaries of comfort in the kitchen. My latest challenge was Marshmallows! This recipe is from the Friendly Food Recipe Book that accompanies the Elimination Diet. It's Delicious and pretty simple.

Ingredients
50g (1/3 Cup) Powdered Gelatine
250ml (1 cup) Cold Water
880g (4 cups) Sugar - I used Castor Sugar
500ml (2 cups) Boiling Water
125g (1 cup) pure Icing Sugar
60g (1/2 cup) Maize Cornflour

Putting it all together:
Sprinkle the Gelatine over the cold water and set aside.

Put the sugar and boiling water in a large saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the gelatine mixture. Stir Until well combined and dissolved. Boil steadily without a lid for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until lukewarm.

Pour the mixture into the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed until white and thick. Pour into two wet 20cm square deep cake tins. Refrigerate overnight.

Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together into a bowl. Cut the marshmallow into squares using a large wet knife. Remove from the tins and toss them in the icing sugar and cornflour mixture until they're well coated. You can then store them in layers, separating them with baking paper so they don't stick together.

Enjoy!

5/52

I have been reading about Jodi's 52 A Portrait a Week and admiring everyone's lovely photos for a couple of weeks and saying to myself - that's something I really must do. So with 5/52 I am joining in at Che and Fidel for A Portrait a Week. I'm picking two of my 4 kids each week to take photos of to include, I'd try for 4 but know I'll fail so I'm aiming for two!

 

Baby Boy - Trying on Dad's and Mum;s boots for size, always keen to get outside.

Muddy Organiser - Head deep in a book - I love that she loves reading so much.

Thank You Jodi for this lovely idea.

Dam it

There's been some excavation work going on, on the farm, and I think everyone, including Muddy Hubby, is just a tad excited. On one of the blocks we have always had a wet patch, after the floods and heavy rain it was almost like a swamp with bird life and marshes. Rumour had it, it's where there used to be an old well on a spring, so they've been doing a little digging, and lo and behold they struck water.

So they decided it would be as good a place as any to put a dam, so it has two methods of filling, one from the natural spring and one from the rainwater runoff, a win-win situation really.

They called in the excavator and he dug a test hole, which once he broke through the hard crust, struck water underneath.

 

He then began the digging process, working his way from the centre point of the dam to the outside, Muddy Bubby was in awe of the machine.

 

This is what it looked like by the end of the day.

 

 

This is what it looked like this morning, with water filling from the spring.

 

The sheep will no doubt soon be down to check it out, do a taste test on the water and probably camp next to their new paddock addition.

Grateful for the bus driver

I love the excitement of a first day, all that nervous anticipation, the barely contained nervous laugh as they try to contain both their anxiety and their excitement. We had three kids start school and preschool this week, and I am breathing a sigh of relief as we slowly return back to the normality of a routine (almost).

Amongst the return to normality was my Muddy Puzzler's first day at preschool. We were dressed and organised early, I was going to take her in, but we pulled up at the bus stop for my Muddy Organiser and out she jumped backpack on 'I'm catching the bus Mum'. Now of course I was incredibly apprehensive about this, incredibly. I talked her through it all, changing buses and where the bus would stop before it got to preschool, including the fact that once they stopped at my Muddy Organiser's school, that she would be on the bus on her own and the bus driver would drive her straight to preschool where I would be waiting. 'Yes Mum I'm going on the bus' was her constant reply. On she jumped, not a problem in the world, happy as Larry until of course every other passenger got off the school bus, then the tears started and did not stop til she got off the bus at preschool where I was waiting.

So this week I am very grateful to the lovely bus drivers that drive my kids to school and safely home. To the bus driver who calmly talked to my Muddy Puzzler while she cried her little heart out. I am so very grateful that he has decided to change his bus route just for her and drop her off first before he does the other school drop offs so she won't cry again on him! Yes he is that lovely and I am so very appreciative of his kindness and care for my kids.

And rest assured my Muddy Puzzler was quickly calmed down and off to do craft within minutes of arriving at preschool, confidently telling the staff that she'll be catching the bus home!

What are you grateful for this week? Make sure you check out 52 Weeks of Grateful over at Village Voices where Maxabella hosts a lovely link up each week.